Episode 398. Leontyne Price (Jane’s Divas I)
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SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
I tried at the end of last week to do a memorial episode honoring my mother who died just a week ago. At the time I couldn’t quite manage it, but I am back again using a different approach: I tell vignettes of mine and my mother’s lives as they intertwined with the voice and presence of a singer we both enormously admired and enjoyed: Miss Leontyne Price. In between the personal stories, which extend from my earliest childhood to the day before my mother died, I weave in recordings of Leontyne in opera (Aida, La forza del destino, Antony and Cleopatra, Porgy and Bess), song (Hermit Songs, Vier letzte Lieder), spirituals, and more. There will be one more memorial tribute featuring another of Jane’s Divas within the week. Thank you again for your empathetic and loving wishes.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Ángel de Saavedra]: La vergine degli angeli (La forza del destino). Leontyne Price, Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Michelangelo Veltri [live New York 12.II.1972]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: O terra addio (Aida). Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli, MargNell Rankin, Orchestra and chorus conducted by Thomas Schippers [live Cleveland 28.IV.1967]
George Frideric Handel, unknown librettist [after Belisario Valeriani]: Care selve (Atalanta). Leontyne Price, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra [1967]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: O patria mia (Aida). Leontyne Price, Orchestra conducted by Thomas Schippers [live New York 25.II.1967]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Hello, Young Lovers (The King and I). Leontyne Price, orchestra arranged and conducted by André Previn [1967]
Adolphe Adam, John Sullivan Dwight [after Placide Cappeau]: O Holy Night. Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Musiksingverein [1961]
Traditional Irish, arr. Friedrich von Flotow, Thomas Moore: The Last Rose of Summer (Martha). Leontyne Price, Edward Downes, London Symphony Orchestra [1970]
Samuel Barber, William Shakespeare [adapted Franco Zeffirelli]: Give me my robe (Antony and Cleopatra). Leontyne Price, Rosalind Elias, Orchestra conducted by Thomas Schippers [live world premiere 16.IX.1966]
George Gershwin, Du Bose Heyward, Ira Gershwin: Summertime (Porgy and Bess). Leontyne Price, David Garvey [live White House 08.X.1978]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Ángel de Saavedra]: Pace, pace, mio Dio (La forza del destino). Leontyne Price, James Levine, Chicago Symphony Orchestra [live Ravinia 22.VI.1979]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Ángel de Saavedra]: Non imprecare, umiliati (La forza del destino). Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli, Jerome Hines, Orchestra conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli [live New York 09.III.1968]
Richard Strauss, Hermann Hesse: Beim Schlafengehen (Vier letzte Lieder). Leontyne Price, Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra [live Chicago 13.III.1971]
Samuel Barber, Anonymous 8th Century Text, translated Sean O’Faolain: The Desire for Hermitage (Hermit Songs, Op. 29/10). Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber [world premiere, Library of Congress 30.X.1953]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Margaret E. Bonds: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. Leontyne Price, David Garvey [live Salzburg 02.VIII.1977]
